National laureate picked up by police

KUALA LUMPUR - National laureate Datuk A Samad Said was picked up by police following a controversial incident where he recited a poem in the presence of several Sang Saka Malaya flags at Dataran Merdeka on August 30.

"I am on the way to Dang Wangi now. I am being escorted by three policemen," tweeted Samad, 81, who is Bersih co-chair.

"I am on the way to the station, so I cannot provide any more details as of now," she said.

On Monday, activists Adam Adli and Hishamuddin Rais were detained in Dang Wangi for sedition where they were shown in a viral video clip flying the Sang Saka Malaya flags while Samad recited a poem in Dataran Merdeka.

The Sang Saka Malaya is a red-and-white flag with 12 yellow stars set in four columns reportedly proposed as Malaya's national flag by an association in the 1940s.